The Caim
May 24, 2026
Communion
Chapter 2: The Stories That Shape This Circle
Discussion
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The question "What do you want to bring into this circle?" has been previewed many times over the past few Caims. Have you thought about the question?
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Have you ever of the last supper narrative, and/or Brigid and Patrick's Caims as stories we tell almost like oral histories?
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Do you have oral histories that are part of your family or friend circles?
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Are you aware of practices, traditions, and symbols from your ancestry?
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Are there barriers to accessing the culture and history of your family's past? Does engaging the history of your "chosen family" rather than biological family help bridge these gaps?
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There are issues of cultural appropriation to consider when engaging deep symbols outside your own ancestry, especially when they come from colonized and/or marginalized societies. How can these issues be approached justly?
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Do you think your personal sense of identity would benefit from exploring the questions above? Is it possible that what you discover might threaten your sense of identity?
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Does your experience of Jesus cross cultures?
Background Materials
Isaiah 56 (NRSVUE): And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it
and hold fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar,
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.
8 Thus says the Lord God,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel:
I will gather others to them
besides those already gathered.
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.